Sensex moving in tandem with global markets declined by 169 points on Thursday to close at 17,584, as uncertainty in the global markets and slowdown in the domestic economy weighed heavy on the stocks. Among the stocks, BHEL, Mahindra & Mahindra and DLFwere the ones which declined the most while among sector indices, CG, BANKEXand OIL&GASpulled the benchmark down. Market breadth was negative with1,264 advances against1,580 declines.

Nifty also witnessed a decline of 45 points and closed at 5,340. Today we expect the markets to open on a positive note on the back of firm global cues.

US markets ended higher with both Dow and Nasdaq up by 0.2% and 0.7%, respectively, as investors cheered better than expected job report.